Glitz and glamour

Scott Thorson (Damon) meets choreographer Bob Black (Bakula) in a gay bar and the two head to Las Vegas to enjoy a sold-out performance by Liberace (Douglas). Dazzled by the pianist, Scott abandons rural Wisconsin for the bright lights of the big city, where he is taken under Liberace’s wing and encouraged to explore his sexuality. “I want to be everything to you, Scott: father, brother, lover, best friend. Everything!” the musician squeals. Their relationship deepens and Liberace incorporates Scott into his act as an on-stage chauffeur and assistant. However, the pressures of fame weigh heavily on Scott and the relationship flounders. Behind The Candelabra is a handsome biopic which trades biting wit, romance and heartbreak to lay bare the emotional bonds between Scott and his famous partner. Douglas’s tour de force portrayal exposes the tormented showman behind the fur-lined and sequin-bedecked myth. Damon has the less showy and more difficult role but he rises to the occasion magnificently. The white-hot glow of Douglas’s performance distracts from the sluggish pacing of the film’s final third and the broad sketching of peripheral characters. The glitz and glamour of Steven Soderbergh’s film are intoxicating.

After Earth (Cert 12, 100 mins). Starring Will Smith, Jaden Smith, Zoe Isabella Kravitz, Sophie Okonedo ***

One thousand years after cataclysmic events that almost snuffed out mankind, Earth is a devastated wasteland overrun by alien killing machines called The Ursa, which track humans by scenting pheromones excreted by fear. General Cypher Raige (Smith) from The Ranger Corps, harnesses a phenomenon called “ghosting”, which allows him to walk among the invaders undetected and slaughter them without mercy. Cypher’s son Kitai (Smith) trains to become a member of The Ranger Corps but the youngster is passionate and reckless, and his application is ultimately rejected. So Cypher’s wife Faia (Okonedo) implores her husband to bond with his son during a final mission before retirement. A freak asteroid storm badly damages their spaceship, which crash-lands on Earth. Cypher and his boy are the sole survivors but the General is critically injured so Kitai must retrieve a rescue beacon to alert HQ to their dire predicament. After Earth is a rites-of-passage story which combines elements of I Am Legend and Independence Day with a deeply human story of a soldier struggling to connect with his grief-stricken child. That central relationship is the glue which holds M Night Shyamalan’s film together, when other elements including overblown action sequences threaten to tear the picture apart.